Gold for the heart - Proverbs 5-9

Proverbs 5

1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow your ear to my understanding: 2 That you may regard discretion, and that your lips may guard knowledge. 3 For the lips of an adulteress drop honey and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

Dr. Maurice Rawlins in his book, Beyond Death’s Door, speaks of resuscitating patients in cardiac arrest. Some come back screaming ‘I am in hell.’
When he interviewed them immediately after being brought back to this life, they knew hell was real.
The Bible describes hell as a lake of fire and brimstone inside earth (Revelation 19 and 20).
Every time a volcano erupts we have proof that there is a lake of fire and brimstone inside earth. That is proof that hell does exist.

Hosea 4:11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

6 Lest you should ponder the path of her life, her ways are moveable, so that you cannot know them. 7 Hear me now therefore, O children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove your way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house: 9 Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel: 10 Lest strangers be filled with your strength; and your labors be in the house of a stranger; 11 And you mourn at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, 12 And say, How I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, or leaned my ear to them that instructed me! 14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. 15 Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well.

Promiscuity, ‘free love’ is not healthy.
This scripture says that it consumes the flesh and the body.
God made sex to be a blessing.
He set boundaries for it for our good.

Proverbs 23:27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

God sees all that we do

He thinks carefully about it

16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets? 17 Let them be only your own, and not strangers’ with you. 18 Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth.19 She is a loving deer and graceful doe; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be always ravished with her love. 20 And why will you, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his goings.

Woman is a provision of God but she isn’t man’s source of life.
She is a companion but not completeness.
We often make the mistake of thinking that the right mate will fill our lives with completeness. When it doesn’t happen with one mate we look for another.
But no detail of life can fill the heart of man.
God made our hearts with infinite capacity.
People and things are not infinite. Only God is infinite.

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Colossians 2:10 And you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power:

22 His own iniquities will take the wicked himself, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. 23 He will die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

The wicked destroy themselves with their choices.

Proverbs 6:32 whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding: he that does it destroys his own soul.

Proverbs 6

1 My son, if you have co-signed for your friend, if you have given a pledge for a stranger, 2 you are trapped with the words of your mouth; you have been caught with the words of your mouth. 3 Do this now, my son, deliver yourself, when you have come to the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself, and make sure your friend. 4 Do not give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. 5 Deliver yourself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Take yourself out of the situation.
If a person leans on you then he is not leaning on God.
He needs to learn to lean on God.
We are not doing others a favor by letting them lean on us instead of God.
Show them how to trust God with their finances or whatever.
The best thing that can happen to anyone is God.

6 Go to the ant, sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provides her food in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. 9 How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 And your poverty will come like a vagabond, and your need as an armed man.

Just a little laziness and suddenly you are poor.
God sent man out of Eden to till the ground for his food to humble his heart that had lifted up against His Maker.
Man needs work to humble his heart.

Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail has God given to the sons of man to be humbled by.

Ecclesiastes 11:6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand: for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether they both will be good.

12 A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth. 13 He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers; 14 Perverse things in his heart, he devises evil continually; he sows discord. 15 Therefore his destruction will come suddenly; suddenly he will be broken without remedy.

He does not speak God’s truth about life. He twists and distorts truth.God hates these seven abominations

16 These six things the LORD hates: yes, seven are an abomination to his soul: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that run swiftly to evil, 19 A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brothers. 20 My son keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake the law of your mother: 21 Bind them continually on your heart, and tie them about your neck. 22 When you go, it will lead you; when you sleep, it will guard you; and when you awake, it will talk with you.

His truth lights our path in life

23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

24 To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange/foreign woman. 25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart; or let her capture you with her eyelids. 26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the woman of the man will hunt for his precious soul.

Wrong women spend a man’s living while the one God designed for him, hunts for him.

27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 29 So he that goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her will not be innocent. 30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; 31 But if he is found, he will restore sevenfold; he will give all the substance of his house. 32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding/heart: he that does it destroys his own soul.

Woman is a provision of God so that man is not alone but she isn't man's source of life.

Colossians 2:10 And you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power:

33 He will get a wound and dishonor; and his reproach will not be wiped away.

34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. 35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

Nothing will erase the pain, trouble, and dishonor that adultery brings.
The beauty of love is marred forever by distrust and guilty memories.

Proverbs 7

1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with you. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of your eye. 3 Tie them on your fingers, write them on the table of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom, You are my sister; and call understanding your intimate friend: 5 That they may guard you from the adulterous woman, from the stranger who flatters with her words.

The ‘apple of your eye’ is the center of your focus.
The adulterous path cannot satisfy, is not blessed, and cannot fulfill the deep needs of man or woman.
The dissatisfaction of this path leads into deeper and deeper perversion seeking a fulfillment that will never be found.
Flattery puffs up pride.
This seems to fulfill but is like eating junk food. It just makes a person hungrier.
A proud person will believe flattering words and be used by that person who flatters.
A humble person knows himself and will not believe flattery.
The only safe place in life is believing what God has said to us in His word.
He loves us and uses no flattery but works tirelessly for our good.

6 For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice, 7 And saw among the naïve, and I discerned among the sons a young man lacking understanding, 8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10 And, behold, a woman met him there dressed like a harlot, and subtle of heart.

‘Subtle’ means cunning or artful in deception. Remember ‘the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.’

11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not stay in her house: 12 Now she is outside, now in the streets, and lies in wait at every corner.) 13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said to him, 14 I have peace offerings with me; today I have paid my vows. 15 Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

She convinced him of her deep desire for him.

16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us drink our fill of love until the morning: let us delight ourselves with loves. 19 For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a long journey: 20 He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 21 With much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 22 He went after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 23 Until a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hurries to the snare, and does not know that it is for his life.

Sexual looseness is unhealthy. There are physical side effects other than sexually transmitted disease.’ A dart strikes through his liver.

1Timothy 5:6 But she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.

24 Listen to me now therefore, O children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths. 26 For she has cast down many wounded; Yes, many strong men have been killed by her. 27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

A man’s life was in danger if the husband found out.
And worse, these sins were punishable by death under God’s law.
Wine and adultery take the heart away from God who is the Source and Sustainer of life.
God wants you to live forever in blessing not in hell.
Hell is real.
God’s Word says that hell is a lake of fire and brimstone inside the earth (Revelation 19, 20).
Every erupting volcano proves that hell is real.
This woman was not filling her need with love from God. She was filling her need with attention from men. This cannot fulfill and she moves from one man to another leaving a wide path of broken hearts and homes.
God’s love is the only thing that satisfies our hearts. It is free and builds us up rightly. It is eternal. We will never lack if we seek to fill ourselves with Him.

Hosea 4:11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Proverbs 8

1 Does not wisdom cry out? And understanding lift up her voice? 2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. 3 She calls at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. 4 To you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. 5 O naïve ones, understand wisdom: and, you fools, be of an understanding heart. 6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips will be right things. 7 For my mouth will speak truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing twisted or perverse in them. 9 They are all plain to him that understands, and right to them that find knowledge. 10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.

The world is full of books. If they agree with what God has said, then they are right. If they do not agree with what God has said in His Word, then they are wrong.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.

Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd (Jesus Christ). 12 And further, by these, my son, be warned: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. 12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion. 13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth, 14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

Millions of dollars are spent on psychiatrists and counselors each year. No better advice can be found that what is from the LORD in the Bible.

Isaiah 9:6 and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The LORD possessed wisdom before creation

15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early will find me. 18 Riches and honor are with me; yes, durable riches and righteousness. 19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. 20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice: 21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; I will fill their treasures. 22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was. 24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth: 26 While he had still not made the earth, or the fields, or the highest part of the dust of the world. 27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a circle on the face of the depth: 28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth...

The LORD delighted daily in wisdom

30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; 31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. 32 Now therefore listen to me, O children: for blessed are they that guard my ways. 33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it. 34 Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life, and will obtain favor from the LORD. 36 But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all those that hate me love death.They do it to themselves.

Does the LORD show favoritism or have special ones? Yes! He favors those who seek and find wisdom.

Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened unto you.

Proverbs 9

1 Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars: 2 She has prepared her food; she has mixed her wine; she has also furnished her table. 3 She has sent out her maidens: she calls from the tops of the high places of the city, 4 Whoever is simple, let him turn in here: as for him that lacks understanding, she said to him, 5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mixed.

Wine in scripture represents the joy of love (Song of Solomon 1:2).
Seeking wisdom brings this to mankind because it brings man into God’s eternal love that fulfills man’s heart beyond imagining.
GOD is the Source of all wisdom.

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7 He that reproves a scorner gets dishonor to himself: and he that rebukes a wicked man gets himself insults. 8 Do not reprove a scorner, lest he hate you: rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. 9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding

Wisdom brings long life

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 11 For by me your days will be multiplied, and the years of your life will be increased.

God has built His own definitions into His word. This verse defines what God means in scripture by understanding—knowledge of the holy.
There is nothing better than knowing God.

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 91:14 Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name. 15 He will call on me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

12 If you are wise, you will be wise for yourself: but if you scorn, you alone will bear it. 13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knows nothing. 14 For she sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

15 To call to those who pass by; who are going right on their ways: 16 Whoever is simple, let him turn in here: and as for him that lacks understanding, she says to him, 17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread of secrets is pleasant. 18 But he does not know that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

Woman is a provision of God but she isn’t man’s source of life.
She is a companion but not completeness.
God made our hearts with infinite capacity and things or people are not infinite. Only God is infinite.

Proverbs 6:32 But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding: he that does it destroys his own soul.

Colossians 2:10 And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

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SUMMARY: Proverbs 5-9

God sees all that we do
He thinks carefully about it
He hates these seven abominations
His truth lights our path in life
The LORD possessed wisdom before creation
The LORD delighted daily in wisdom
Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding
His wisdom brings long life